A brief history of Green Arrow

So I think I may have under estimated how popular Green Arrow is. On the outside Green Arrow looks like a gimmicky superhero which has basically been kept alive by the nostalgic whims of older writers. Whilst this character seemed to be kept on life support the comparisons with the most popular non powered billionaire seem hard to resist.

Case in point Smallville. Writers were stuck between Batman and Tony Stark.

Though if you delve a little a deeper and look past Arrow’s affinity for being topless you’ll find more.

Oliver Queen was the only heir to the Queen fortune after he lost his parents in a tragic safari accident. Growing unfulfilled he turned into your typical trust fund boy, careless and reckless.

One day whilst sailing Oliver fell overboard and washes up on a population free island. Without any of his money or influence Oliver found himself alone and for the first time his life forced to fend for himself.

After spending a while going a bit Tarzan and teaching himself how to use a home made bow he survived and escaped past a group of drug smugglers coming to the island.

Realising he could do more with his life he decided to take his affinity for archery further and become a superhero with his arsenal including trick arrows like the boxing glove arrow and net arrows.

Over time Oliver lost his fortune as he put all of his time into being a superhero. His time at the bottom rung of society gave him a strong political conscience as he began to disagree with the methods of the Justice League.

Though this didn’t affect his relationship with Green Lantern Hal Jordan as they stayed close friends over the years.

Oliver even took the rite of passage of dying and coming back to life. After giving his life to save Metropolis from a bomb, Oliver’s estranged son, Connor took his place until Oliver returned. Though his return wasn’t that simple as when he returned he only kept his memories from a point where he was happy with life, though his memories were eventually restored fully to save the lives of his friends.